Columbia Salmon Co. v. Berg

Citations

• 5 Alaska 538

Syllabus

<p>1. Fish @=3—Navigable Waters—War Department Permit.</p> <p>A permit to establish a fish trap in navigable waters on the shores of Alaska does not confer any right of property in the site mentioned therein. It amounts to no more than a certificate from that department that the erection of a fish trap there will not interfere with navigation.</p> <p>2. Fish @=10(1)—Licenses.</p> <p>The possession of a territorial license to fish confers no property right in the fish site claimed. It merely authorizes the holder to carry on the business of catching or dealing in fish in Alaska.</p> <p>3. Fish @=5(2)—Contract-Executory—Construction.</p> <p>The defendant agreed to build a fish trap and to fish for the S. S. Co. The company was to become the owner of the location of the trap site upon paying for the fish caught for that season, which it never did. Held, the S. S. Co., not having paid the consideration agreed upon, did not acquire any title in the trap site, which has remained in the actual possession of the defendant, and is now in his possession as its owner.</p> <p>4. Navigable Waters @=36(4)—Tidelands—Fish Trap Sites.</p> <p>A fish trap on the shores of Alaska is destroyed or carried away by the elements each fall or winter, and the tideland is thus left bare and without visible signs of possession. To maintain a continuous right to such a trap site, the one claiming it must see to it that his structures are kept in repair and used for the purpose for which they are intended.</p> <p>5. Navigable Waters @=36(4)—Tidelands—Right oe Possession— Trespass.</p> <p>One may lawfully acquire a right of possession on the tidelands in Alaska by going on the same when not in the actual possession of another. His pedis possessio would be good as against any one but the United States; but, if such structures as may be erected are destroyed, the one claiming the site must see to it that he again asserts his dominion over it by either an inclosure or by the erection of such improvem